IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v52y2023i6s0048733323000471.html

How does late-career entrepreneurship relate to innovation?

Author

Listed:
  • Murmann, Martin
  • Salmivaara, Virva
  • Kibler, Ewald

Abstract

In this paper, we present an explorative study that develops our understanding of the relationship between late-career entrepreneurship and innovation-driven business activity. Based on observations of 2903 solo founders of new ventures in Germany in 2008–2017, we offer first and robust evidence that late-career entrepreneurs (~50 years and above) are more likely than younger founders to introduce product/service innovations that are ‘new to the market’. Our explorations specifically reveal that older founders who draw on personal financial resources and combine their innovation orientation with prior managerial experience are most likely to generate the types of innovations that bring new products or services to the market. We conclude by discussing how our study's insights contribute to the research agenda on innovations in late-career entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Murmann, Martin & Salmivaara, Virva & Kibler, Ewald, 2023. "How does late-career entrepreneurship relate to innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:6:s0048733323000471
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104763
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733323000471
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104763?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olav Sorenson & Michael S. Dahl & Rodrigo Canales & M. Diane Burton, 2021. "Do Startup Employees Earn More in the Long Run?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 587-604, May.
    2. Kenny Ching & Joshua Gans & Scott Stern, 2019. "Control versus execution: endogenous appropriability and entrepreneurial strategy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(2), pages 389-408.
    3. Kautonen, Teemu & Hatak, Isabella & Kibler, Ewald & Wainwright, Thomas, 2015. "Emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour: The role of age-based self-image," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 41-51.
    4. Wennberg, Karl & Anderson, Brian S., 2020. "Editorial: Enhancing the exploration and communication of quantitative entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    5. Thomas Ã…stebro & Kevyn Yong, 2016. "Invention Quality and Entrepreneurial Earnings: The Role of Prior Employment Variety," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(2), pages 381-400, March.
    6. Teemu Kautonen & Simon Down & Maria Minniti, 2014. "Ageing and entrepreneurial preferences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 579-594, March.
    7. Kaltenberg, Mary & Jaffe, Adam B. & Lachman, Margie E., 2023. "Invention and the life course: Age differences in patenting," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    8. Tommaso Minola & Giuseppe Criaco & Martin Obschonka, 2016. "Age, culture, and self-employment motivation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 187-213, February.
    9. Steven A. Brieger & Anne Bäro & Giuseppe Criaco & Siri A. Terjesen, 2021. "Entrepreneurs’ age, institutions, and social value creation goals: A multi-country study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 425-453, June.
    10. Fonseca, Tiago & de Faria, Pedro & Lima, Francisco, 2019. "Human capital and innovation: the importance of the optimal organizational task structure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 616-627.
    11. David Galenson, 2009. "Old masters and young geniuses: The two life cycles of human creativity," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 12, pages 1-9, May.
    12. Niels Bosma & Veronique Schutjens & Erik Stam, 2009. "Entrepreneurship in European Regions," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Rui Baptista & Joao Leitao (ed.), Public Policies for Fostering Entrepreneurship, chapter 0, pages 59-89, Springer.
    13. Hainmueller, Jens & Xu, Yiqing, 2013. "ebalance: A Stata Package for Entropy Balancing," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 54(i07).
    14. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    15. Zissimopoulos, Julie M. & Karoly, Lynn A., 2007. "Transitions to self-employment at older ages: The role of wealth, health, health insurance and other factors," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 269-295, April.
    16. Gangaram Singh & Alex DeNoble, 2003. "Early Retirees As the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(3), pages 207-226, July.
    17. Raymond Hicks & Dustin Tingley, 2011. "Causal mediation analysis," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 11(4), pages 605-619, December.
    18. Åstebro, Thomas & Thompson, Peter, 2011. "Entrepreneurs, Jacks of all trades or Hobos?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 637-649, June.
    19. Paull Weber & Michael Schaper, 2004. "Understanding The Grey Entrepreneur," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(02), pages 147-164.
    20. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769, December.
    21. William J. Baumol, 2013. "The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Sociology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 14(3), pages 96-108.
    22. Levesque, Moren & Minniti, Maria, 2006. "The effect of aging on entrepreneurial behavior," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 177-194, March.
    23. Zhao, Hao & O'Connor, Gina & Wu, Jihong & Lumpkin, G.T., 2021. "Age and entrepreneurial career success: A review and a meta-analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    24. Greene, William, 2010. "Testing hypotheses about interaction terms in nonlinear models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 291-296, May.
    25. Amy E. Davis & Kelly G. Shaver, 2012. "Understanding Gendered Variations in Business Growth Intentions across the Life Course," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 495-512, May.
    26. Baron, Robert A. & Tang, Jintong, 2011. "The role of entrepreneurs in firm-level innovation: Joint effects of positive affect, creativity, and environmental dynamism," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-60, January.
    27. James Curran & Robert A Blackburn, 2001. "Older People and the Enterprise Society: Age and Self-Employment Propensities," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(4), pages 889-902, December.
    28. McGuirk, Helen & Lenihan, Helena & Hart, Mark, 2015. "Measuring the impact of innovative human capital on small firms’ propensity to innovate," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 965-976.
    29. Pekka Stenholm & Zoltán J. Ács & Robert Wuebker, 2015. "Exploring country-level institutional arrangements on the rate and type of entrepreneurial activity," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 20, pages 387-404, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    30. Frédéric Delmar & Scott Shane, 2006. "Does Experience Matter? The Effect of Founding Team Experience on the Survival and Sales of Newly Founded Ventures," Post-Print hal-02311638, HAL.
    31. Merida, Adrian L. & Rocha, Vera, 2021. "It's about time: The timing of entrepreneurial experience and the career dynamics of university graduates," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    32. Vaznyte, Egle & Andries, Petra, 2019. "Entrepreneurial orientation and start-ups' external financing," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 439-458.
    33. Rosenbusch, Nina & Brinckmann, Jan & Bausch, Andreas, 2011. "Is innovation always beneficial? A meta-analysis of the relationship between innovation and performance in SMEs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 441-457, July.
    34. Philipp Koellinger, 2008. "Why are some entrepreneurs more innovative than others?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 21-37, June.
    35. Autio, Erkko & Kenney, Martin & Mustar, Philippe & Siegel, Don & Wright, Mike, 2014. "Entrepreneurial innovation: The importance of context," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1097-1108.
    36. Tommaso Minola & Giuseppe Criaco & Martin Obschonka, 2016. "Age, culture, and self-employment motivation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 187-213, February.
    37. Cefis, Elena & Marsili, Orietta, 2006. "Survivor: The role of innovation in firms' survival," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 626-641, June.
    38. Michael M. Gielnik & Hannes Zacher & Antje Schmitt, 2017. "How Small Business Managers’ Age and Focus on Opportunities Affect Business Growth: A Mediated Moderation Growth Model," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 460-483, July.
    39. Thomas Wainwright & Ewald Kibler, 2014. "Beyond financialization: older entrepreneurship and retirement planning," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 849-864.
    40. Astebro , Thomas B & Yong, Kevyn, 2015. "Appendix: Invention Quality and Entrepreneurial Earnings: The Role of Prior Employment Variety," HEC Research Papers Series 1130, HEC Paris.
    41. Panagiotis Ganotakis, 2012. "Founders’ human capital and the performance of UK new technology based firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 495-515, September.
    42. Strohmeyer, Robert & Tonoyan, Vartuhi & Jennings, Jennifer E., 2017. "Jacks-(and Jills)-of-all-trades: On whether, how and why gender influences firm innovativeness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 498-518.
    43. James J. Heckman & Burton Singer, 2017. "Abducting Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 298-302, May.
    44. Teemu Kautonen & Erno Tornikoski & Ewald Kibler, 2011. "Entrepreneurial intentions in the third age: the impact of perceived age norms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 219-234, September.
    45. William J. Baumol, 2002. "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth: The David-Goliath Symbiosis," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 7(2), pages 1-10, Summer.
    46. Bersch, Johannes & Gottschalk, Sandra & Müller, Bettina & Niefert, Michaela, 2014. "The Mannheim Enterprise Panel (MUP) and firm statistics for Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-104, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    47. Pierre Azoulay & Benjamin F. Jones & J. Daniel Kim & Javier Miranda, 2020. "Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 65-82, March.
    48. Lee Fleming, 2001. "Recombinant Uncertainty in Technological Search," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 117-132, January.
    49. M. Diane Burton & Jesper B. Sørensen & Stanislav D. Dobrev, 2016. "A Careers Perspective on Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(2), pages 237-247, March.
    50. Kautonen, Teemu & Kibler, Ewald & Minniti, Maria, 2017. "Late-career entrepreneurship, income and quality of life," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 318-333.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Krieger, Bastian & Füner, Lena & Prüfer, Malte, 2024. "Which start-ups win public procurement tenders?," ZEW Discussion Papers 24-072, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Kibler, Ewald & Sirén, Charlotta & Maresch, Daniela & Salmivaara, Virva & Fink, Matthias, 2024. "Aging and entrepreneurs' emotional exhaustion: The role of entrepreneurial strategy, psychological capital, and felt age gap," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(5).
    3. Krieger, Bastian & Füner, Lena & Prüfer, Malte, 2025. "The participation of young firms in public procurement," ZEW Discussion Papers 25-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Sebastian Camarero Garcia & Martin Murmann, 2025. "How unemployment benefit duration shapes startup motivation and growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1565-1600, April.
    5. He, Yuhan & Lyu, Fengguang & Luo, Shougui, 2025. "Convergence or divergence? The impact of common institutional ownership on firms’ innovation trajectories," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian & Murmann, Martin, 2020. "Unemployment benefit duration and startup success," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-033, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Hagen, Johannes & Naldi, Lucia & Karlsson, Charlie, 2025. "Aged to perfection? Unpacking the curvilinear relationship between founder age and new venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    8. Zhang, Dan & Pan, Xiaofei & Ma, Shiguang, 2023. "The effects of institutional investors and their contestability on firm innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raihan Taqui Syed & Dharmendra Singh & Nisar Ahmad & Irfan Butt, 2024. "Age and entrepreneurship: Mapping the scientific coverage and future research directions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 1451-1486, June.
    2. Patel, Pankaj C., 2025. "Look before you leap: Earnings gaps and elderly self-employment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Kibler, Ewald & Sirén, Charlotta & Maresch, Daniela & Salmivaara, Virva & Fink, Matthias, 2024. "Aging and entrepreneurs' emotional exhaustion: The role of entrepreneurial strategy, psychological capital, and felt age gap," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(5).
    4. Kautonen, Teemu & Kibler, Ewald & Minniti, Maria, 2017. "Late-career entrepreneurship, income and quality of life," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 318-333.
    5. Wei Xiao & Mingqin Wu, 2021. "Life-cycle factors and entrepreneurship: evidence from rural China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 2017-2040, December.
    6. Shahid, Pirzada Syed Rizwan, 2023. "Founder's Human Capital and the Entrepreneurial Process Duration," OSF Preprints yf6mg, Center for Open Science.
    7. Steven A. Brieger & Anne Bäro & Giuseppe Criaco & Siri A. Terjesen, 2021. "Entrepreneurs’ age, institutions, and social value creation goals: A multi-country study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 425-453, June.
    8. José Ernesto Amorós & Marcelo Leporati & Alfonso Jesús Torres-Marín & Sergio Roses, 2024. "Opportunity entrepreneurship after 65: Relevant factors in OECD countries," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 1215-1244, June.
    9. Cal J Halvorsen & Yu-Chih Chen, 2019. "The diversity of interest in later-life entrepreneurship: Results from a nationally representative survey of Americans aged 50 to 70," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, June.
    10. Ying Zhu & Ayse Collins & Zhixing Xu & Deepak Sardana & S. Tamer Cavusgil, 2022. "Achieving aging well through senior entrepreneurship: a three-country empirical study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 665-689, August.
    11. Matthews, Michael J. & Anglin, Aaron H. & Drover, Will & Wolfe, Marcus T., 2024. "Just a number? Using artificial intelligence to explore perceived founder age in entrepreneurial fundraising," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    12. Teemu Kautonen & Simon Down & Maria Minniti, 2014. "Ageing and entrepreneurial preferences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 579-594, March.
    13. Velilla, Jorge & Sánchez Gracia, Rebeca, 2018. "El emprendimiento sénior: Marco conceptual y evidencia empírica [Third-age entrepreneurship: Conceptual framework and empirical evidence]," MPRA Paper 83567, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2020. "Age of managers and employees – Firm survival," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    15. Miguel Ángel Montañés-Del-Río & José Aurelio Medina-Garrido, 2020. "Determinants of the Propensity for Innovation among Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-18, June.
    16. Maldonado-Bautista, Ileana & Sanchez-Ruiz, Paul & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Watkins, Karen, 2025. "Echoes of the past: The long-lasting effects of entrepreneurs' generational imprints on value-creation models," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1).
    17. Bakker, Rene M. & McMullen, Jeffery S., 2023. "Inclusive entrepreneurship: A call for a shared theoretical conversation about unconventional entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1).
    18. Udo Brixy & Martin Murmann, 2025. "Hiring opportunities for new firms and the business cycle," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1387-1413, March.
    19. Agostinho, Rui & Baptista, Rui & Hessels, Jolanda & Castro-Silva, Hugo & van der Zwan, Peter, 2025. "The entrepreneurship fountain of youth: Younger management ranks generate more entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(4).
    20. Sundriyal, Vivek Kumar & Gabrielsson, Jonas, 2024. "The employment consequences of founding an incorporated business among STEM founders: Evidence from Swedish microdata," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:6:s0048733323000471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.